Chapter Text
Peter was glad he dropped his pen, if he had been holding it right now then he would’ve crushed it. Mr. Harrington just announced that they were taking a trip to Stark Industries in three days, that was Friday. “Oh god it’s on Friday.” he muttered in shock.
The class erupted in cheers, students turning to each other and squealing loudly. He saw Ned looking at him excitedly, but all he could do was give a shaky smile back. MJ has an amused look on her face as she takes out her sketchbook and starts drawing Peter’s face. Flash on the other hand. . .
“Hey Parker, now we’ll get to see how much you’re lying about your internship!” Flash announced obnoxiously.
He obviously said it out loud for a reason, because all of Peter's classmates turned to him and either started laughing, ooing, or looking at him guiltily. Mr. Harrington, deciding he’s had enough of this, shouted at them to get their attention. He announced the procedures and rules, but Peter tuned him out. His face was red from everybody laughing at him.
The bell eventually rang and Flash and all of his friends laughed while they snuck looks at Peter.
MJ snapped her fingers in front of Peter’s face, “Don’t listen to them, loser, they’ll know you’re not lying on Friday anyway.” She gave him a look before he could reply, so she picked up her backpack and walked away. “See you tomorrow.”
As she left both his and Ned's sight, he let out a sigh of frustration.
“Peter, she’s right, you’ll finally get to prove to Flash that you know Tony Stark!” Ned said.
Peter smiled at Ned’s enthusiasm, “I mean, I guess you two are right.”
Ned stared at him, “Dude, MJ’s always right.”
—
Since Peter only stayed at SI over the weekend, he didn’t tell anyone about the field trip. Well, except May, since she had to sign the forms. She laughed, saying that it was his “Parker Luck”. She did however take pity on him and said that he could just stay at SI after the field trip so he wouldn’t have to go back to school and then right back.
Unfortunately, Friday came early after three days of Flash’s taunts and bullying.
“Everybody, be sure to take out your permission slips and contract or else you’re not getting on this bus!” Mr. Harrington said awkwardly as he patted the side of the bus.
Ned smiled widely, “I can't wait to see the tower! Oh, do you think there’ll be any Avengers there? Ant man? Hawkeye? I heard there’s a new Black Widow, do you think she’ll be there?”
Ned continued rambling as we lined up to get on the bus. MJ was reading her book, Dune, she’s been reading it for the past two months. Peter could tell she was listening to Ned’s every word.
“Ready for your lies to be exposed?” Flash laughed as he pushed his way through the line, his friends following him.
Peter scowled, one of the many things Peter was worried about was Flash Thompson. He didn’t care if Flash exposed him, everybody thought he was lying anyway. What he was scared about was which Avengers were going to hijack his field trip today.
—
As they approached the front doors to Stark Industries, his classmates were whispering to each other, occasionally looking over at Peter, who groaned out of frustration.
Before they could enter the front, Mr. Harrington and Principal Morita (who happened to be coming along) stopped the class. “As you should know in case you didn’t read the rules, SI has a strict no bullying policy. We have been made aware that this tower has eyes everywhere so do not bring shame upon our school.” Principal Morita scanned the class, looking at every student. He looked at Peter a little longer than others, making him wonder what he did wrong.
Principal Morita released them, allowing them to go into the lobby. Peter followed them only to be stopped by the only two adults on the trip. Mr. Harrington looked guilty while Principal Morita had a cold face. “Peter,” he started, his tone unkind, “we know that after your uncle's death it’s been hard, for you and your aunt.” He sighed, “We’ve heard about the rumors, Mr. Parker.”
Peter frowned, what rumors?
Sensing his confusion, Principal Morita started getting frustrated. “Your lie has been going around for way too long. We know that you don’t intern for Tony Stark, he doesn’t even take interns in high school.”
Peter was shocked. “Sir, I know it’s hard to believe but I’ve sent reports saying it’s true.”
He only shook his head, “Anybody can forge Mr. Stark's signature, and Peter, we know you’re smart but this is too far.”
All this time they thought he was lying? Yes, it’s hard to believe but couldn’t they have told him sooner? Peter knows Mr. Stark would’ve worked it out.
“I-“
“Stop, Mr. Parker, that’s enough.” Principal Morita said, “We don’t want SI to find out about this so please try to refrain from talking about your fake internship during the trip.” He looked at Peter, “Go inside, I expect you to be on your best behavior.”
With that, he turned away from him and started talking to Mr. Harrington, who hadn’t spoken the whole conversation.
Peter walked away from them quickly, how could his day get any worse than his favorite teacher turning his back on him?
He walked into SI, which was weird because he never uses the front entrance.
Ned came up to him, “What was that about?”
Peter sighed, a lump building in his throat, “Apparently the teachers think my internship is fake, so I have to act on my best behavior so the school doesn’t get embarrassed.”
Ned looked at him in horror, “Dude, what the heck!”
Even MJ was slightly bothered by this, “What about the papers?”
“Fake.”
She frowned.
Before anybody could say anything, a voice interrupted everybody.
“Hello, Midtown, correct?”
Everybody looked at Ms. Potts in shock. Sure it wasn’t the Avengers but Pepper is literally the head of Stark Industries.
She smiled, taking their silence as a yes, “Unfortunately, I will not be able to join the tour seeing as I have a meeting in ten. I’ve come to drop off my personal intern, he will be leading the tour from here.” With that, she gave a polite smile and left the lobby.
The intern turned around and Peter's eyes were as wide as saucers.
“Hey y’all, my name is Harley Keener, your tour guide for today.” Harley flashed the class a grin, he searched the crowd before finding Peter and winking at him. Peter groaned and covered his face with his hands. MJ was probably drawing him right now.
“Before we get started, I'm going to give each of you a badge. Do not lose this badge as it allows you access to the elevators and doors available.” With that, he started calling out names.
“Oh, um, Mr. Keener, Peter didn’t get one.” Betty pointed out.
Harley grinned mischievously before putting a smile on his face, “Please, call me Harley. To answer what you said, Happy, our head of security, doesn’t allow reprints, so I can’t give Peter one.”
Principal Morita frowned, “Reprints? What do you mean? What does this have to do with Peter?”
Harley raised an eyebrow. “. . . Peter has his own card, he interns here.” Looking at the shocked and angry faces coming from the class, Harley decided to move on. “Peter, take out your badge.”
The whole class looked at him expectantly as he took out his badge.
Cindy looked confused for a second, “If I may ask, what does each badge stand for?”
“Thanks for asking that,” Harley replied, “the badges start with white and go up from there. White is for reporters, journalists, and visiting companies. Mr. Stark doesn’t trust them enough to give them any access.” A few people laughed at that. “Pink is for visiting schools, like yours. It only works for the time you’re here. Purple is for janitors and the receptionists since they’re only given access if needed to. Blue is for part time interns. You won’t see any of those since it’s usually high schoolers during the summer. Green is for floors A, B, C and D, the science labs. Regular interns stay there most of the time. This includes college interns. Yellow is for family and friends of interns, Avengers, and workers at SI. They only get access to where their friend goes. Orange is for the security guards. The security guards have access to almost everything except the rooms they guard. They can go onto almost every floor but they can't go inside. Red is for the Avengers, they can access pretty much everything except other peoples rooms. Silver is for personal workers and assistants for Mr. Stark, Ms. Potts, and Dr. Banner. Finally, Gold is for Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Bruce Banner, and Stark's two interns." Harley let out a huge breath, "Man, how do these tour guides talk so much?"
"Wait, so Peter's Tony Stark's personal intern?" Seymour asked.
Harley laughed, "Yeah? Did y'all not know that?"
Nobody responded, so Harley moved on. He gestured to the class to follow him towards the elevator and they followed like lost sheep. Peter, at the back of the class, was about to follow until Flash pushed him from behind.
"How much did you have to pay for that Parker?" Flash laughed as he saw Peter's shocked face and went to join the class.
Peter sighed, this was going to be the worst day of his life.